BUTTERFLIES. (Butterflies - Susanne Gervay)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	Butterflies - Susanne Gervay
Date:	24/08/06 (426 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A realistic look at the life of those with disfigurement.

Disadvantages: Would not suit everyone.

Can you imagine the horror of a parent who sees her child fall into a barbecue pit and be burned beyond all recognition, losing their hair and face, and being able to do nothing ? This is the situation that has to be dealt with by Katherine's parents in this heart-rending tale of how a girl grows up disfigured.

I thought that the book was well written. It is based in Australia and written by an Australian author that I have never heard of before. Reading more about the lady on her website, I found that she is a specialist in child growth and development. This didn't surprise me, since the detail within this fictional tale is well researched, and the idea of this and other books produced by the same author are to examine different aspects of life in a fresh and open way.

Butterflies is a super book, and the way in which the tale is told is very clever and subtle, all at the same time. There are flashbacks and dialogue that the child has with herself, what she really thinks, as opposed to what she says being in italics, and easy to recognise as thoughts that indeed a child put in this situation would think. Her mother is devoted to her girls, and the relationship between them is very well drawn indeed, a close knit family that has stuck together through thick and thin, bad times and good regardless of the fact that Katherine's father has left, unable to cope with Katherine's illness. Coming from an Italian background, and having married a backpacker from Australia in haste, her mother is protective of her daughters, and for ever reminding Katherine that she is beautiful, and that her beauty goes beyond skin deep.

Some of the scenarios from the book demonstrate how other children behave towards Katherine, and these are very real, and you feel for the character of Katherine, who is determined to live as normal a life as others, regardless of her handicap. She will not accept handicap as an excuse for failure. Indeed when offered segregated school instruction, refuses to sign anything that says she is handicapped.

What I got from this book was a lot of pleasure, seeing how a young girl overcomes all the obstacles that stand in the way of someone so seemingly vulnerable. The exterior Katherine is much different from the Katherine that dwells within and dreams of being "normal". Her own hatred of the scars that mar her body pushes her forward in her quest, and here, the book really does excel.

I shan't tell you the outcome. I shan't tell you of her first love affairs or what happened, because if I did that, I would spoil the read. Katherine's character is alive, painted in such a way as to be believable and the relationship between her and her best friend at school, Jessie, is portrayed in a wonderfully realistic way. It's a difficult struggle for mother and sister, Rachel, though Rachel never seeks attention or begrudges her sister the hours of devotion the child needs.

The hundreds of skin grafts that Katherine has to endure become a commonplace event in her life, and how she deals with them, and what they mean to her is illustrated so well. Imagine the pain that a person endures during skin grafting and then multiply that by hundreds, as this fictional character does actually represent the many children who need reconstruction work. Imagine all that horror, and then the case scenario of the graft being rejected. It happens.

This isn't a complex read, it is written in simple everyday terms. It is 247 pages, thus not even a long or arduous book to read, and the author finishes the book with a page dedicated to the subject matter by Dr. Hugh Martin, President of the Australian and New Zealand Burn Association and Head of the Burns Unit in a town in New South Wales.

In his summation of the book, he states :

"Every survivor has a story. The book explores the complex areas of the emotional impact of a burn on the individual and the family while giving insight into the world of hospitals, patients and doctors. It traces the development of the personality from insecurity and relative isolation to a healthier level of self esteem that enables the individual to form balanced relationships with family and friends".

I think his summing up is very accurate and feel this is a must read for anyone in contact with kids, because this kind of accident can happen to anyone, and not all of us would be able to cope with the transition between normality before burns, and normality after them.

A super tale, and one that opens up a new area of reading for me, as I shall be looking out for more stories from her.

Published by Angus & Robertson
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.
ISBN 0-207-19850-0
Http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Price : 8.50 GBP

or available from the lady's own website.

Http://www.sgervay.com

It was worthy of a read and left me with many thoughts about how fortunate I am and how perhaps to deal with people I meet that are less fortunate than myself.

A very suited read for children as well as adults.

Rachel

Summary: A worthwhile book for people who care.